Galatians chapter 5 and verse 19 begins a list of practices of those who aren't led by the spirit, but instead are led by the flesh. They have a flesh-managed life, not a spirit-managed life. At Galatians 5.19 says, Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these and following comes 15 different works of the flesh that are listed. And notice at the end of verse 21, he says, Those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. And the question we want to ask is, what is a Christian? Because the people that do those things are not Christians. So what is a Christian? A Christian is someone who walks by the Spirit, verse 16, who is led by the Spirit, verse 18, and who, verse 22 and 23, produces the fruit of the Spirit. This walking by the Spirit is not for a specific subset of Christians. This is the fruit that evidences all true spiritual life. Let's read Galatians 5 verse 13 and following. Our text will be verses 22 and 23. Galatians 5 verse 13, For brethren, you have been called unto liberty. Only is not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the laws fulfilled in one word, even in this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. This I say, then walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not at all fulfill the lusts of the flesh. Why does that work? Well, verse 17, for the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, but the Spirit of God against the flesh. And these are contrary to one another so that you cannot do the things that you would naturally want to do in your flesh. But if you be led by the Spirit, you're not under the law. Now, the works of the flesh are manifest. They're obvious. They're clear. Which are these? Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft. amongst each other. It's things like murders, variants, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, endings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like. Of which I tell you before, as I also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. That is a message worth repeating. I told you before, and I told you even before that, he says, and now I'm telling you again now, people that do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But, verse 22, the fruit of the Spirit There's love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law. And they which are Christ have crucified the flesh and the affections and lusts. But if we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. And let us not be desirous of vainglory, provoking one another, envying one another. You can sense the very pastoral context that this is given in. the church people, a group of churches that were at each other's throats and not demonstrating the fruits of the Spirit. Now, before we look at the fruit, let me make, as I did last time about the flesh, several works of the flesh, several observations about the fruit of the Spirit. I think I have four. Number one is this. The fruit listed here is representative. It's representative, not exhaustive. You might remember in the middle of verse 21, when speaking of the flesh, he says, and such like, like saying, etc. There's more to it. The flesh is far more creative than the 15 things mentioned here. And we noticed that last time. But it's the same thing with the spirit. The spirit is more prolific than the nine things which are mentioned in 22 and 23. In fact, other passages give us or outline other qualities that the Spirit produces in the life that aren't mentioned here. For example, we read some just this morning, the Beatitudes in Matthew chapter 5, or the qualities of love in 1 Corinthians chapter 13, verses 4 through 8, or the great virtues found in 2 Peter chapter 1, which we'll look at in a moment. or the characteristics of godly wisdom that are found in James 3, verse 17 and 18. There are other qualities that the Spirit produces, such as hope, which is not mentioned here, in the life of the believer. But these are representative, though they're not exhaustive. Secondly, by way of general comment about this list, and this is much more important now, the fruit is the product of spiritual life, not the producer of spiritual life. It's the product of life, not the producer of life. This week I received my March edition of the Banner Truth magazine, and one thing I appreciate about that magazine is its reverence, really, that permeates all its pages. And normally the first thing I read is the little news clips because they're real short, and then I read The book reviews, because they're the next shortest thing. And then I look at the articles. And on page one, and I haven't gotten beyond page one, by the way, but I read page one. There's an article by a Baptist pastor in Wales. And he's telling of a memorable sermon that he heard preached by the late Professor John Murray on Ephesians 2.10, which is where the Apostle says that we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do or unto good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. And he says, quote, I remember Professor John Murray preaching on this theme and saying at one point, quote, saved by good works or saved unto good works. What's the difference? Just two little prepositions. What's the difference between them? All the difference between heaven and hell saved by our good works. And we are lost people saved unto good works. And there is proof that even the vilest person has been regenerated by the spirit. To the basis of all practical holiness is regeneration by the spirit of God. and the indwelling of the Spirit of God in our lives. And it's simple, yet it's the essential distinction that the farmer must make when he goes out into the field between the root and the fruit. Some of you probably think I should say root, but root and fruit I'd have to say. So I prefer saying root and fruit. I mean, the root produces the fruit, right? And it would be foolish to ever suggest that it could be the other way around. I mean, who in his right mind would imagine, would even think of going out in the field and hanging a tomato out there suspended in midair and expect a vine to grow out of it and down into the ground and produce a root system? Completely unthinkable. And the spirits act of regeneration produces the virtues listed in our text. They are the fruit of the root of life that the Spirit gives in regeneration. The fruit is the product of spiritual life, not the producer. We don't do these things to get life. We do these things because we have life. God must work holiness in us before we can work it out of us. And so these things listed in these two verses are ultimately an evidence not of human ingenuity, but of divine grace. In fact, they have been called the catalog of grace. Alan Cairns says, quote, The Bible never drives a man to dig deep within himself to find the resources he needs to be the kind of person God wants him to be. Rather, it tells him that however deep he digs, he will find nothing in himself but spiritual corruption. But if you have the spirit, here's the hope in this. You have the foundation on which all nine of these things can grow. You have what is needed. And somebody says, you know, that's just not me to be loving, to be peaceful, to be kind. And the whole point is, well, that is the point. It's not me to be this way. It's the Spirit. And so that when we do become this way, and we grow in these things, they become evidences, not of our own goodness, but of grace. If we were all naturally kind and good, there would be no evidence of supernatural grace in our lives. And so it is the activity, this is what I'm saying, it's the activity of the Spirit within the Christian that produces the fruit in the life of the Christian. It's the product. It doesn't produce life. Thirdly, spiritual fruit is the evidence of spiritual life. And we said it's the product. Fruit is the product of spiritual life. But as such, it becomes then the evidence of spiritual life. Just like that tomato grows up and you see a tomato growing on the vine, it is the product of the vine, but it's also evident that the vine and the root system is a tomato vine. and not something else. Jesus himself said that fruit was the proof of spiritual life. He said he was talking about false teachers in Matthew chapter 7. Just let me read you these verses, 15 through 20. He says, Beware of false prophets which shall come unto you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they're ravening wolves, so they'll try to put on a show before you and look like sheep amongst the other sheep. But he says in verse 16, ye shall know them by their fruits. That's how you'll know them. They will evidence fruits that will be in. In connection to their nature. And then he says this, do men gather grapes of thorns? Or figs of thistles? Even so, every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. He says it like three different ways. And then he says, every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. And then he repeats the statement, wherefore, by their fruits ye shall know them. So Christ has given us the instruction to know teachers by their fruit. What is the fruit? It's listed in Galatians chapter 5. But this isn't only true for false and true prophets. It's true of everybody. You shall know them by their fruits. And while fruit does not produce the root, the fruit is the proof of the existence of the root. And if God has put spiritual life in a believer, That root will produce fruit bearing the stamp of spiritual life. Andrew Murray said, Have you ever noticed the difference in the Christian life between work and fruit? A machine can do work, but only life can bear fruit. It takes life to bear fruit, but fruit then becomes the evidence that real life exists. The point is that the Holy Spirit is working in the believer's lives to do more than just restrain and prevent evil. He's doing more than just resisting the flesh. He's actually at work in our lives promoting a positive harvest of fruit. And spiritual fruit is the natural product, and I use natural in the sense of It fits the nature of the Spirit. It's the natural product. It conforms to its own nature of spiritual life. It is the product of life in Christ. It is the inescapable expression of union with Christ. Jesus said in John 15, I'm sure you know this verse, I am the vine and ye are the branches. He that abideth in me and I in him, the same, bringeth forth much fruit. Or without me, you can do nothing. So, spiritual fruit then is the evidence that there's spiritual life. We're not given to look to membership roles or even verbal affirmations on the part of people. We're given fruit to know these teachers. This fruit will be evidenced in every believer. I mean, to different degrees, to be sure. Remember the parable of the four soils? And Jesus said that the good soil, they didn't always reap to the same extent. There were some 30, some 60, some 100 fold. So there's not always the same amount of fruit. But there's always fruit. It will be obvious fruit on the Christian tree, if you want, to show that it is a Christian tree. I mean, when you go to an apple tree, for example, you find apples. I mean, they might be small and tiny apples, but they're nonetheless apples. And as the Spirit of God works within the believer, these fruits become more and more apparent and more and more evidence to people around. And you might have a big, juicy, red apple, but that apple is no more an apple than the little, tiny apple. It's still the fruit of the Spirit manifested in different degrees. So the spiritual fruit listed here is representative. It's a product of spiritual life. It's not the producer. And it's the evidence of spiritual life. It's not just a superfluous addition that we can choose to add if we want to kind of go the extra mile in Christianity. And fourthly, the spiritual fruit is produced in harmony with not independent of my participation. This is important to grasp. The way this fruit comes up in our lives is in harmony with, not independent from our participating in the process. Now, please understand, I'm not saying that it's partly the work of the Spirit and then the rest I have to do myself so that He gets some of the credit and I get the rest of the credit. It's not that at all. It's that the Holy Spirit's work in me to produce this fruit does not bypass my active participation. I don't just all of a sudden get this fruit with any participation on my part. Rather, God's Spirit in me energizes me to participate so that his fruit is produced in harmony with my activity, not independent of it. So it's not just this matter of, well, let the spirit bear the fruit. I'm waiting for harvest. This fruit is produced in harmony with my own participation in seeking for that fruit. Indeed, all the virtues that are mentioned here in Galatians 22 and 23 of chapter 5 are commanded on Christians in other passages. Let me just give you one example. Look in verse 22 of Galatians 5 and notice the very first word on the list. It's love. And then look down in verse 23 to the very last word on the list. And you'll see in the King James, it says temperance. Now, I want us to go remember love and temperance. OK, now let's go to second Peter. Keep your finger in Galatians, because we'll be back shortly. Go to 2 Peter chapter 1. And notice what the Apostle Paul says here. Look at verse 5. 2 Peter 1 verse 5. He says, And besides this, give all diligence. That sounds like participation. And then he says, you add to your faith. That sounds like human activity. You add to your faith virtue. And to virtue, knowledge. Verse 6. And to knowledge, what? Self-control or temperance. You see, the fruit of the Spirit, mentioned in Galatians 5, Peter says, you give diligence to add that fruit to your life. Keep reading, to temperance, patience, and to patience, godliness, verse 7, and to godliness, brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness, you've got the King James that says charity, it's the word love, the exact same Greek word as the very first fruit of the Spirit mentioned in Galatians chapter 5. He says this is the fruit of the Spirit, it's love. That's what the Holy Spirit says through Paul. And then the Holy Spirit comes and says through Peter, you give diligence to add love to your faith. And there's no contradiction. Because the fruit of the Spirit is produced in harmony with, not independent of, my participation. Now, this has happened often that there have been well-meaning Christians who have wanted to somehow just receive these by faith. And they're actually things that we are to add to our faith. Of course, it does take an activity of faith in everything. And this is expressed so succinctly in verses we seem to come to often in Philippians chapter 2 verses 12 and 13 where he says, work out your own salvation. There you have it. Your salvation is a free gift. It's given to you. Nothing you've done, you can't work for it, but you can work it out. and you do it, that is, work it out in your lives, make every aspect of your life consistent with your profession, with your standing in Christ. And he says, don't take this lightly. Don't shrug this off as indifferent. You do this with fear and trembling. This is serious stuff. Why? Because it is God who is at work in you by His Spirit, both the to-be-willing The desire and the to-be-doing, the power to do these things. And so, for you to shrug this off and say, I'm not going to work out my salvation in every area of life, is to resist God's work in your heart. It's not to walk by the Spirit, it's to resist the Spirit of God. But that's how God works in us. He works in us to be willing and to be doing. So, the spiritual fruit then is produced in harmony with, not independent of my participation. So, we can look at these and say, yes, I need love. I need to work on it. I need joy. I need to work on it. And yet, still recognize that I don't produce this. This is the product of the Spirit's life within me. Just like the farmer. He plants his seed and he picks the weed breaks off the shoots, and yet he participates, but he doesn't cause the growth, but he's an important participant in the growth. The same with our spiritual lives. So the spiritual fruit here then is representative. It's the product of our spiritual life. We can't produce life through it. It's the evidence of spiritual life. And it's produced in harmony with, not independent of our participation. So to sum this up, we could say that this fruit is a visible evidence of an invisible reality. That's what the fruit is. It's a visible evidence of an invisible reality in our hearts. If you look back up at verse 19, he says the works of the flesh are manifest, they're clear. Those works Those manifest, visible, clear works, they're visible evidences of an invisible flesh. By flesh we mean our sinful nature, not our visible body. And so it is with the fruit there in verse 22. It's the visible evidence of an invisible reality, of an internal spiritual management. And that's why last week I preached to you on evidences of a flesh-managed life And today I want to preach to you on the evidences of a what? Spirit-managed life. Now, this really fits the flow of the passage. Just put it that way. Evidences of a spirit-managed life. Because you have there in verse 16 this divine expectation. Walk in the Spirit. This wonderful promise. encouragement that is given. You'll not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Then he expands on that and he gives this explanation, this detailed explanation. This is how it works. This is battle in you. The spirit is battling your flesh. And then he gives us now distinguishing evidences to show who's managing whose life. These evidences distinguish you as either flesh managed or spirit managed. And regarding the fruit, One commentator said this, the listing of the sinful acts in the catalogue of evil was disorderly, chaotic and incomplete, corresponding to the random and compulsive character of sin itself. In stark contrast now, the character traits contained in the Catalogue of Grace appear in beautiful harmony, balanced and symmetrical, corresponding to the purposeful design and equilibrium of life, of a life filled with the Spirit and lived out in the beauty of holiness. On the one side you have chaos with all those fifteen different works, and here now you have nine beautiful evidences of a life controlled by the Spirit. They really seem to be, even in Paul's mind, grouped into three groups of three. Three triads. There's a total of nine. And we can't really be too dogmatic in how we divide these up. But it has been suggested that the first three describe the habits of the Christian mind. Love, joy, peace. characteristics of the Christian mind, characterized by love, joy, peace. The middle three, the habits of social interaction, suffering, patience, kindness, goodness. And the final three, of personal conduct. A more simple way is to put it this way. The first triad portray the believer's attitude towards God. the second towards other people, and the third towards himself. Now, we can't force that too much on the passage, but that does help somewhat. So, consider, first of all, then, the fruit born in relation to God. Love, verse 22. But the fruit of the Spirit is love. That's the word agape. This is one of Paul's favorite He uses the noun seventy-five times, and the verb agatau some thirty-four times in his own writings. And love is not listed here first because that's what came to Paul's mind first. It's listed first because love is given preeminence in the Scripture as the preeminent virtue. Now, by the three, faith, hope, and love, and the greatest of these is what? It's love. Luther said, quote, It would have sufficed to list only love. For this expands into all of the fruit of the spirit. In fact, if you read 1 Corinthians chapter 13, he says, What is love? And he just pours out, really, what are the other fruits of the spirit? If you have love, you'll have these other fruits. It's preeminent there. It has a place of preeminence in the list and should have in our own mind. I mean, this is the focus of the passage. Look back at verse 13 of Galatians 5. It says, Brethren, you've been called to liberty. Just don't use liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by what? But by love, serve one another. That's the antidote to the flesh. Why? Verse 14, for all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. The whole law is summed up in that. A love is a genuine self-sacrifice for the good of others. And the context suggests that the focus of this love is not only towards God, perhaps not even primarily towards God, but rather horizontal. That is, a love towards other people. And chiefly in the context of Galatians 5 and then on to Galatians 6, it's the context of other believers. The preeminent fruit in the life of a believer is love for the other believers. There's a neat story that I've heard about Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones, you might remember that he was assistant to Lord Hoarder, who was the chief physician for the king. And Dr. Lloyd-Jones had been trained in medicine. He was a medical doctor and he was very high in the ranks of the time and assistant to this physician that was the physician of the king. And he was very prominent in society. And the story is told that after his conversion, one time he walked out from some kind of entourage of these people in that society and he walked out onto the street and there was a group, a Salvation Army band, a ragtag band, marching down the street, playing their trombones and instruments. And he said something well up in his heart and said, that's my people. Those are my people. And that's something that wells up in the heart of all believers when that distinction must be made. There are those of our intellectual nobility, of our economic class, They're those who laugh at the same jokes we laugh at and who like the same things we like and we just naturally mesh with those people. But then there are God's people. People that we don't naturally in the flesh mesh with at all. They're rather quite motley if you look at them. There's not very many wise, not very many noble. They actually seem quite foolish in the scheme of things. And yet, to a child of God, He loves them. She loves them. Because of whom they are. Because they are the Lord's. Because they are united in Christ. That's why we sing Blessed be the tie that binds our hearts together. It's Jesus Christ. The fruit of the Spirit is love. How's your love towards the others around you? Secondly, verse 22, but the fruit of the Spirit is love and then joy. Joy is the outgrowth of a spiritual life. It's a joy that's independent of life's circumstances because it grows out of this spirit life, not out of circumstances. And that's why Paul can say, rejoice in the Lord, and then when? Always. Because with the Spirit in us, there's reason to rejoice. The Spirit Managed life has joy in his God. Communion with God excites him. He will say with a psalmist, it was good for me to be in the house of the Lord, to be with God's people, to be in God's Word. There's joy in that. There's a pleasure that is taken in that that is not found in NASCAR races or golfing tournaments. or weekends at the beach. The third and the first triad is peace. This New Testament word for peace is related to the Old Testament word shalom, which had the concept of wholeness or well-being. Galatians 5 says it's a consequence of justification, being justified by faith. We have peace now with God. We read in Matthew 5 that we are called now to be peacemakers. All this is the idea in here. We have peace with God. We have the peace of God. We now communicate that peace to others being peacemakers. Spirit-managed life is at peace with God and has a sense of that peace in His heart. And that's why Ephesians chapter 4 calls us to diligently preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, because that is a fruit of the Spirit. The unity of the Spirit is preserved in the fruit of the Spirit, which is peace. How's your peace this morning? The first three were born, are fruit-born in relation to God. Of course, love we want to think also in relation to other men. But this is a whole other dimension that we could not even talk about when we were talking about the works of the flesh. I mean, this is a whole new dimension that does not even exist for lives managed by the flesh. You go to lives managed by the flesh and you have things like hatred, variance, envies, wrath. You go to a life managed by the Spirit and you have things like love, joy, peace. Not just with those who are like you. Jesus said, you know, Even the publicans do that. They greet their brothers. But even towards their enemies. Secondly, we see fruit born in relation to others. That is in the social context of life. How is the spirit-managed life lived out towards others? Well, he says in verse 22, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness. Number four then in the list, is long-suffering, or you might want to put the word patience. And that's what it means. This is someone who's pushed, and he's pushed, and he's pushed again, and he doesn't lose patience. At least not right away. It's not that he's perfect, but there is this fruit of a patience that is growing in his life. That he's long-suffering towards others, which means he suffers long with other people. That's the fruit of the Spirit. No one is naturally long-suffering. Number five, King James says gentleness. I would suggest you put the word kindness. I think that's a better term here. A better translation for the word that follows long-suffering or patience. It's kindness. Kindness is a characteristic of God. This is used in Romans 2, verse 9, where it talks about the kindness. King James translates it, goodness, there. The kindness of God that leads people to repentance. God is a kind God. Ephesians 2.7 says that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness towards us through Christ Jesus. Isn't that a wonderful way of explaining what God did to us through Christ? He was demonstrating His kindness towards us. That gives you a picture of what kindness is. Titus 3.4 says, but after the kindness and love of God our Savior towards men appeared. Once again, it connects it with his whole saving work. It's his kindness towards us. And we are called to be like God in this respect. Using the same word, he says in Ephesians 4.32, Be ye what? Be ye kind. This word in Galatians. One to another. tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you. Colossians 3 verse 12 says, put on therefore as the elect of God, holy and beloved, vows of mercy and then kindness, humbleness of mind, humility of mind that is, meekness on suffering. We're to be like God. And the Spirit of God, who is God Himself, bears His own fruit in our lives. So actually, we're talking about becoming more God-like, becoming more Christ-like, becoming more spirit life with these fruits. And part of that includes kindness. The idea includes reasonableness and flexibility. Not a bullying or pushing people around. Not a heavy handedness, but a gracious attitude. Boy, do we need this. Long-suffering, patience, kindness, King James says gentleness, are not only exercised in the second person, but in the third person. That is, not only are you patient and kind when talking face-to-face with that person, but you're patient and kind when you're back with your wife or your husband or your friend and saying in the third person, If you have a flesh, it's one thing to be able to restrain it when face-to-face, but it really takes the Spirit to be able to restrain it when you're not face-to-face. That's why God talks so often about the sin of gossip. Gossip is being unkind. It's being unpatient with people in their absence. And in the spirit-managed life, there is, number six, goodness. That's just plain, old-fashioned goodness. Someone has put it this way. Goodness is an attitude of generous kindliness to others which is happy to do more than is required by mere justice. It speaks of something done You know, we use this expression, that was done out of the goodness of her heart. And that's really the idea here, except we would want to clarify that it's not that the goodness is found inherently in the heart, but it is a goodness that is there as a fruit of the Spirit's working in the heart. There's a goodness there, and then they do things out of the goodness of their heart, given by the Spirit of God. Have you ever found yourself wanting to call and check up on Neil and Sherry, or write a note to the gallons, or invite the family and church that you know the least to your house, simply out of the goodness blossoming in your life through the work of the Spirit? Do you practice random acts of goodness Not because you're good, and not to demonstrate your goodness, but because of the fruit of the Spirit in your life is goodness. That's what it's speaking of. Everybody knows what good is. And we do things out of goodness. So what does a Spirit-managed life look like? Well, in relation to God, there's the fruit of love, joy, peace. In relationship to others, there's the fruit of patience, kindness, goodness. But thirdly, notice the fruit born in relationship to self. We could talk about one's conduct, how one lives one's life. Number seven, the King James says faith. But here, once again, I encourage you, if you have a King James, I really encourage you to take your pen and write the word faithfulness. Faith is used at least three different ways in Galatians. Faith is used in the sense of the basic content of the Christian message. In chapter 1, verse 23, he talks about how the Christians in Judea heard that Paul was preaching the faith he once tried to destroy. Faith there is used in the sense that that's the content of what we believe. We defend the faith against error. But faith is much more commonly used in reference to one's acceptance or belief of the gospel. So we talk about being justified by faith, right? We don't refer to the content anymore so much as our response to that content. But here, as elsewhere in Scripture, faith is used As a quality of being true, trustworthy, reliable in all one's dealings with others, this outward focus of faith, that others can have faith in you. Paul uses this word. There's a verse you'll recognize, which is translated this way in the King James, 2 Timothy 2.2, where Paul says, In the things which thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to men of faith. And the King James translates it to faithful men. Correct translation. We shall be able to teach others also. So here it is. Faithfulness. I mentioned William Carey at the beginning of the service after he had served in India for eight years with very few visible results. Carey wrote to his friend John Williams, quote, Pray for us that we may be faithful to the end. And what is it that God requires of a steward? that the man be found, what? Faithful. It's not easy to be faithful. The flesh is not faithful to anything. And there are times when everything in your flesh is battling against faithfulness to your commitment. Whether that be to your wife or your husband or your family or your church or your job or your... I don't know what. It takes the fruit of the Spirit to produce faithfulness. And then at the beginning of verse 23, we have meekness, which is a good term. Meekness is a submissive and teachable spirit towards God that manifests itself in gentleness towards others. That's why some of you have the translation gentleness. Meekness is often defined as strength under control. It's not a lack of spirit. It's not a, you know, wallowing down, I can't think of the word, but getting down in fear and lack of strength. It's a strength, but it is very controlled, very subdued. It's meek. And it's gentle. Look at chapter 6, verse 1. He says, Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such a one. That is your duty. You can't just say, well, that's not my duty. It is your duty. But do it in the spirit of what? Meekness or gentleness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. It's made to be described as a humble and pliable submission to God's will, which reflects itself in humility, patience and forbearance towards others regarding even insult or injury as God's means of chastisement or training. And then he comes finally to. Temperance. And you might want to put above that, self-control. Put temperance as self-control. And it's interesting that the fruit of spirit-controlled life is a self-controlled life. And it's ironic, is it not, that those who reject all authority and want to be masters of their own ship, so to speak, controllers of their own future, are the most uncontrolled of people. Self-control only comes through submission to external control. And this self-control or temperance refers to mastery over one's desires. Paul said, quote, I discipline and subdue my own body so that after I preach to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. I subdue it, I discipline my own body so I can be master of my own passions. And if you look back up at verse 19 and following, you just see a complete abandonment. And some were suggesting in Galatia that to let people get out from under the law and be free from the law with regard to their salvation would lead them to complete abandonment. People would just do what they wanted. So you had to have the law there to constrain them and to hold them in. Paul says, Paul says it's far from that. It's life in the Spirit which brings true self-control. Because if you think about it, while the law can produce a certain amount of external conformity, it can never produce self-control. Just go to the countries where there's extreme repression of the people. It may produce a certain extent of external conformity, but it often backlashes in rejection by the people because it cannot produce inward conformity. Well, then we ask, how does the Spirit work this fruit in us? What activities Does He engage in? What means does He use? For Alan Cairns in his book, The Fruit of the Spirit, lists three activities of the Spirit in the life of the believer and four means that the Spirit has at His disposal to make this fruit grow. Let me give them to you. The activities of the Spirit in the life of the believer are first that the Spirit exposes sin. John 16 tells us that it's the Spirit's job to convict the world of sin. So the Spirit exposes sin. In other words, He doesn't look the other way. He doesn't just go along with the game. You know, when you're in a group of people and you're doing something that's kind of questionable, you just hope that no one's going to stand up and say, You know, hey guys, we really shouldn't be doing this. Because as long as no one speaks up, it's okay. But as soon as one person speaks up, man, all the fun's ruined. Well, the Spirit's not going to keep silent. It's not just going to go along with your flesh. It's going to rise up in protest. Because it will expose your sin. Secondly, the Spirit reveals Christ to the believer. This is the gift of illumination. In 1 Corinthians 2 verse 7, listen to these words, Paul speaking, he says, We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory, which none of the princes of this world knew. For had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But it is written, I have not seen neither ear heard neither has it even entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them that love him. But verse 10 says God has revealed them unto us by his Spirit to the spirit reveals the things of Christ to us, and that's why Paul prays in Ephesians chapter one that God that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened So that you may know what is the hope of this calling and what is the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints and what is the power that was manifested in the resurrection. That's a ministry of the spirit to enlighten the eyes to make known to the eyes of the understanding the great things of God. That's an activity of the spirit that causes this growth in our lives. And thirdly, the spirit controls believers. Ephesians 5 verse 18 says, don't be drunk with wine, but be filled with the Spirit. And the idea is don't be controlled by your wine, be controlled by the Spirit. The Spirit provides godly impulses. It really does. It's an active ministry of the Spirit in our lives from day to day. Providing godly impulses. Now, if you wake up one day, And you think, boy, I really wish I could be more faithful at my scripture reading. That didn't come from your flesh. That is the Spirit of God producing that, controlling you. Now, what are the means that He uses? There are four of these. First of all, of course, we'd want to notice this, the Word of the Spirit, right? The Bible. That's His gift of inspiration. We're breathed out by the Holy Spirit of God. The Spirit never acts apart from His own words. I mean, can you ever act apart from your own words? The Spirit can't either. His words are true and He works in us through His word. Not much that could be said about that, but secondly, it's prayer. Romans 8.26 says, Likewise, the Spirit also helps our infirmities, for we do not know how we should pray as we ought, but the Spirit of God himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now, Calvin interprets his groanings as the Spirit of God working in our hearts. He says this, not that he actually prays or groans, but arouses in us assurance, desires, and sighs. To conceive which our natural powers would scarcely suffice. On our own, we couldn't do it. He creates these groanings in us. A third means is the ministry of the church. And our fellow Christians. We call them the gifts of the spirit. See, God has gifted other believers with gifts. And those gifts are not intended for the believer himself or herself. They're intended to be the Spirit's means of ministering grace to other believers. Our gifts are not inward focused, they're outward focused. And so one means that the Spirit has, in producing this fruit of the Spirit in us, is the ministry of the church and our fellow Christians. Ephesians 4 talks about how he gave to the church some apostles, some evangelists, some prophets, some pastor-teachers. He did it for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry. For the edifying of the body of Christ, that means everybody in the body. And then he speaks to everybody and he says in verse 15, I think it is, but speak the truth in love. Speaking the truth in love, we may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ. We're all speaking the truth to each other in love. And that causes us to grow up into the head, which is Christ. See the ministry of our fellow believers. by this loving interaction among his people, the Holy Spirit opens both the hearts and mouths of believers to each other, ministering needed grace to them. As Christians, we are not self-sufficient. We need each other, for that is how God has designed the development of his church. What a responsibility this place is on us. It is a responsibility to work with God and to live in fellowship with him so that we can carry a word from him to some needy believer. And it is a responsibility to be humble enough to listen to what our brethren say to us, always, of course, subjecting their words to the standard of Scripture. And, of course. Now, there's a blatant lack. Among American Christians, and it is this, a sense of community. A sense of need for the other. And a sense of responsibility to the other. We're all off seeking our own things. And instead of thinking that we're meeting as a body to worship as a body, nowadays we quote, attend church. as if it were a program put on for my individual consumption, and then I leave and carry on my individual life. It's like self-service at the gas station. I go, I take what I want, I might pay some money for it, and then I leave. But that's not how the Spirit has arranged And the way the Spirit produces fruit of the Spirit in our lives is through interaction with other believers. As iron sharpens iron, so the believers sharpen each other in the Lord. And we have need of one another, and we have responsibility to one another, and we hamper our own spiritual growth, and we abort the work of the Spirit through us when we do not live as a community of Christians. And if you were to go to China, and if you were to go to Malaysia or somewhere else where there's persecutions, you would find this very easy, because no one else would have you. No one else would have you. But it's very difficult for Christians in America specifically. Don't neglect the means that the Spirit has given us for growth in the Spirit. And the fourth one, we said the Bible, prayer, the gifts of the Spirit in other believers, the church, and fourthly, affliction. Hebrews 12, verse 11 says, No chastening for the present seems to be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless, afterwards it yieldeth, it has a fruit, it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness under them which are exercised thereby. Psalm 119, 71 says, It was good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes. The Spirit of God works in our lives. through the use of means. Those means are His Word. Those means are prayer. Those means are the church, the body of believers. And that means is affliction. And when we participate in those means and yield to those things, God is working in us through that. When we allow ourselves to be led by the Spirit, when we walk in the Spirit, The Spirit then, not independent of, but in harmony with our own participation in these means, produces in us the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Let's pray. How convicted I am, I imagine all God's people, by how small our fruit is. Please help us to give all diligence to add these things to our faith. Participate in the means that you have ordained for their growth in our lives. Help us to resist the devil, to resist the flesh, to yield to the Spirit. Give us eyes that can, with wisdom, evaluate our own our own hearts and activities and minds to see if these fruits are evident. We pray for those whose lives are managed by the flesh. We're all about fleshly things. No real care, no real thought of fruits of the Spirit. Have mercy on them. And have mercy on us all. That we might grow more and more and more into the likeness of Jesus Christ, who was the perfect representation of this fruit. And be transformed from glory to glory to glory into His image. through the working of the Spirit, through the Bible, the Word of God. Change us, we pray. Don't let us just stay where we are. May our profiting appear to all. May our fruit grow to thirty, sixty, a hundredfold, and be abundant for all to see, giving glory to you. We pray in the name of Jesus who made these things possible. Amen.